Thank you for you response, Neil. I saw this tree in a well respected, local, nursery. I am now hesitant to get one. I have been unable to get much information on it anywhere else.

GG

Hi GG,

Neil is right, Norway maples are very invasive. For the most part, they have no value whatsoever. Are they fast growers? Yes, way too fast. Do they provide shade? Yep, so dense that virtually nothing grows under it when its mature, not even grass. Do they have nice fall color? Not compared to native maples. The norways also keep their leaves until December - its hard to rake leaves in the snow!

The more 'ornamental' varieties (Crimson King, and your variegated one, for example) may grow slower, but they still provide thick shade under which little will grow.

The variegated one will likely revert back to green. It is suggested to prune out the green shoots to prevent the reversion, however, the tree will eventually get so big as to make pruning difficult and/or expensive if you have to call in the professionals.

Also, a lot of variegated trees and plants can get scorched by the hot afternoon sun, and do better with some shade. I don't know if this would apply to the variegated Norway.

Okay, I am convinced. I will research another option. I sure did like the varigation of that tree though. Well, I always liked the Kwanzan Cherry I planted at my other house.
Thanks for your help.
GG

Yes indeed norway maple is a serious weed. However, it is also the equivilent of a best-selling book aboung plants a nurseries so most have them.

Altough boxelder is considerd a native weed tree it also is a maple and has a few cultivars with varigation. lemme dig up one of my books...

yeh thers some varigated selections of tuliptree as well.

Well, I see you've gotten several dire warnings about the dreaded Norway Maple. Well, I live in Massachusetts as well, and they are already EVERYWHERE. Okay, I don't know how extensively they have invaded the relative pristine parts of this state, such as Mohawk Trail State Park, but if you live in a residential area, there are probably THOUSANDS (or tens or hundreds of 1000's!) of mature trees in your town already, each of them dropping thousands of seeds a year.

My point is, if you like the variegated Norway maple, plant it. Yeah, the variegated variety is a slow grower, and prone to reversion and sunburn, but please don't get the impression that you'd be introducing anything into the ecosystem that isn't already there.

I am pretty sure, from my own observations, that Norway maple is already the most common maple in Eastern Massachusetts. A few more Norway maples -- and variegated ones at that (trying to survive with half the chlorophyl of its brethren) are going to make NO DIFFERENCE. Really.

The only variegated Norway maple that seems to be commercially available Acer platanoides "Drummondii". It's a beautiful tree. PLANT IT AND ENJOY (say I).

Here is a link that might be useful: Acer platanoides

If we all went by that logic, no one would ever stop planting invasives. Every victory, however small, helps. The more people who concesly plant alternetives to exotics instead of just going with the flow are helping our natural enviorment because iths that much less of a sorce for invasion. Just because 'everyones doing it' doesnt mean you should. I, for one, avocate looking for biological control for NM. Theres some equally attractive variegated boxelder selections.

Unfortunately, biological control on NM would be tricky, because of all the close relatives in the US. There may not be any native pests of NM that we can be sure wouldn't attack our native maples.

The argument of, "they're everywhere, so one more won't make any difference" has been repeatedly rehashed over on the Trees forum. One of the problems with that point of view is that people who manage natural areas (such as sanctuaries, parks, state forests, etc.) can and do run programs to control invasive species such as Norway maple. When they're doing so, each and every additional outside source of seed increases the difficulty of controlling the invasion.

If enough of the public can be made aware of the problem, hopefully someday we will see broad-scale removal of Norway maple. Each existing tree is part of the problem, and each person who chooses a non-invasive alternative is part of the solution.

Saccharum, you make an excellent point. Although it seems ubiquitous in my area, there might in fact be very specific areas or neighborhoods where eco-management has turned the tide of NM.

I am very respectful of all forum members who chose a hard stance against the Norway maple!

Only partially kidding, I offer the following advice: if find five NM's in your neighborhood and chop them dowm, you've earned your Drummondii!

Few I see planted here remain variegated. Probably some stock is more stable than others. But even here with our droughty summers at least one wooded urban ravine has been flooded with Norway maple seedlings. If it weren't for all the native bigleaf maple seedlings that come up every year (mostly to die) the sight of these others would be quite startling. Unfortunately, the foreign species' progeny isn't dying in droves its first year.

How about a variegated sweetgum?

(Not sure if sweetgums even like zone 5, but I wanted to chime in a suggestion)

Sweetgum? HERESY!

The variegated Box Elder (Acer negundo "Auratum' or 'Aureomarginatum' or "Flamingo' or Variegatum' or etc.) was a much better alternative in my very, VERY biased opinion.

I'm a devout Acerphile! (c:

Here is a link that might be useful: Variegated (shudder!) Sweetgum

Meiji, i think some already (accidentaly) introduced specific pests of norway maple are:
Norway maple aphid (periphyllus lyropictus)-The leaves of norway maple are subject to heavy infestations by this aphid. The attaked leaves beome badly wrinkled, discolord, and reduced in size. defoliation may follow.
Leaf stalk borer (Nepticula sericopeza) -Often infests the fruits of norway maple and may attack the leaf stalks in summer, occasionaly causing severe defoliation.

I can find no more information on these insects, wether on their ranges in north america, possible other hosts(?), and severety of infestations in north america or their native ranges.

Whoops, i meant Saccharum, not Meiji

Fledgeling, Periphyllus lyropictus is a known pest on our native sugar maple, and to my knowlege it's not known to be an effective control agent on NM. I haven't heard of Nepticula sericopeza being established here, do you have any sources on that? I normally think of that family as being leaf miners. Of course, I know of the well-established maple petiole borer sawfly (Caulocampus acericaulis), another exotic species infesting sugar maple that causes so many people in the midwest and northeast to write the forums in alarm in the spring!

As you may be aware, the process of introducing a biocontrol species involves an intensive quarantine procedure, wherein researchers attempt to determine whether the control agent would impact native or economically important species (and of course, whether it would be effective on the target species).

I am well aware of the process for introducing biological controls. Thank you for the information. Like i said in the avobe post, i had no information on any other hosts. Neither did i suggst that they were biocontrol insects or that they in any way controled this pest. All i saw was a apparently specific insect when you expressed doubt that any existed. I guess i was mistaken on Periphyllus lyropictus - i couldnt find a host list of possible other hosts for it- without that list i guess i shouldnt have jumped to conclusions. thanks for correcting me. There seems to be little specific information available online for Nepticula sericopeza besides that its a seed and petiole mining insect that infests norway- that all is from one sorce - i cant check others. I guess i should have said that all up front... actually looking back i shouldt have mentione it at all because of the scarcity of info wich makes it impossible to draw conclusions. I just wanted to beleive it. But thats the benefet of backtought

No worries, and I hope I did not offend, Fledgeling. Purely for my own edification and education, I would still be curious as to your source on the Nepticula, because a cursory search of Agricola came up empty. If indeed it was highly species-specific, a Lep that attacks both seed and leaf might be just the ticket for biocontrol... although I suspect even if the perfect bug were found and successfully tested, there would be political barriers to controlling such a popular landscape tree ;-).

Well its from the book Pirone's tree maitenence and its listed as a pest only for norway maple, but thats not why i chose to list them, because the book, as i have found, is sometimes wrong. I did some reserch with european forestry stuff and found it listed as a pest for norway maple seeds in the wild- it was not listed for other maple species. I did not find anywher ethat any species other than norway maple a big howast. Concerning the sketchy info, perhaps my conclusions were premature-

But i can dream, cant i?